Parc de Belleville, Paris
You certainly know about the small vineyard on the top of Montmartre, I have almost given up covering the grape harvest in Montmartre because either it's overcrowded and choked with tourists or it's a headache to get the administrative authorization to get behind the gates and follow the pickers. But when I learned through this article in
Le Parisien that the picking was to be done on tuesday
in the lesser-known parcel of the Parc de Belleville, I thought I had an opportunity to correct this omission, especially that I didn't work that particular
morning.
Beyond the anecdotal impact of these harvests and of the volume of the resuting wine, it's always healthy to remember that in the late 19th century the Paris region was the biggest wine-producing region, there were vineyards in Montmartre and Belleville but plenty more of them in the villages all around Paris, close or distant. Romainville for example which lies less than 2 kilometers from the present-time Paris limit was a famed village vigneron, and a couple centuries ago 110 hectares from the total surface of 344 hectares in the village were planted with vines. See the pictures on the sides shot in the early 20th century in Romainville, imagine Belleville had the same production short while before. In the early 15th century the Parliament of Paris fixed the price for this sought-after wine of Romainville, it was at about one Franc per liter which was very expensive at the time (source).
Paris has today several micro parcels, among them of course the "Clos Montmartre", the one of the Parc de Belleville (in the 20th arrondissement) plus the one of the Parc Georges Brassens (15th) and the one of the Parc de Bercy (12th), but the general public is only allowed to take part to the picking in the 3 latter locations. In order to participate you just have to write to the Parcs et Jardins de la Ville de Paris, the city administration department in charge of the parks and green spaces. For that, send an email some time before the picking at [email protected], explaining in which of the 3 parcels you want to pick (I'm not sure they let you pick in the 3, even though they're not on the same day). Clara, pictured here holding a bunch she just picked, is such a volunteer, she like the others was given scissors and briefed by the park-maintenance workers on how to pick.
The parcel at Belleville is located on an upper corner of the Parc de Belleville, roughly below the Rue du Tranvaal, actually you walk down into the park right opposite to the restaurant Moncoeur Belleville which happens to have a nice
selection of organic/natural wines, and the parcel will be on your left along a paved lane. From the upper plaza above this park you have a nice view on Paris including the Eiffel tower, the park lying on a steep slope and the 20 + rows enjoy a good exposition even if there are trees around the parcel.
Remember that not so long ago Belleville was not part of Paris (until 1860), it was a separate village located on a hill with farms, fields, vegetable gardens, vineyards and farm animals. It was not much built between historical Paris and Belleville, you'd travel in a countryside farmland before reaching this colorful village where Parisians would go to have fun in guinguettes, as I understand that being outside Paris then made it cheaper to buy and drink booze, because there was a heavy tax named Octroi which was levied at the door of Paris on incoming commodities and products including wine.
When I arrived the picking was already underway and both the park workers in their green work-clothes (among them several women) and the volunteers (most of them young students) were picking delicately the red and white grapes before putting them in 15-kg boxes. The small parcel is fenced all around with just one opening through a gate at one end, in order to protect the fruit against two-legged predators and there were also plastic nets covering each row because the birds wouldn't leave any berries (the nets had been rolled back at the upper end for the harvest). There were several consultants in charge of the winemaking and of the viticulture including Sylviane Leplâtre, the consultant for the Paris city administration who is in charge of overlooking the vineyard and also of the winemaking.
The small parcel has both young vines and relatively-older ones, and both white and red varieties, let's say Pinot Meunier and chardonnay, although from what I understood they're hybrid versionsin order to better resist the disease pressure. Sophia who works for the Parcs et Jardins seemed to know quite well the viticulture issues and she answered willingly to the questions of the volunteers, who obviously had never taken part to a harvest before. In order to allow more people to have a taste of what picking is like, the Parc et Jardins had organized two consecutive picking sessions that day, one at 9 am and the other at 10 am.
9 boxes and baskets for a total of 120 kg : this is the full grape load of this micro harvest in Belleville. Some years are better, last year yielded 170 kg and once they made 198 kg... Someone is going to drive the small truck to the small chai of the Ville de Paris in 12th arrondissement (Bercy neighborhood) where the grapes will be pressed for a rosé. Sophia told me that it will be possible for the visitors to taste the wine on october 7. Ousmane on the right is the vineyard manager in charge of this parcel, he's doing the copper/suphur sprays on the parcel, at a cafence of once every two weeks he said, depending also of the wheather and humidity. The parcel is farmed organic and they don't use fongicides.
About 20+ years ago, my wife and I were at the wine bar Jacques Melac (I believe it was Rue Leon Frot) on the day of the harvest and crush at their miniscule vineyard. They were pouring wine out of the barrel from the prior year's harvest; I believe that barrel was the total production. I don't remember anything about the quality.
Posted by: Bob Rossi | September 15, 2017 at 02:57 PM
Epic Jacques Melac! Lived right next door to the bistro back then. Unforgettable times...
Posted by: Fanas | March 19, 2018 at 03:30 PM